Rise of the Guardians 2: Rise of Love
by Lucy Kate 16
Summary: Years after stopping Pitch from drowning the world in fear, Jack faces yet another threat of fear. This time, he has more to worry about than the children of the world. Will Jack's friends and family survive through Pitch's newest threat?
1. Chapter 1: Jack

Rise of the Guardians 2: Rise of Love

To

Jaime

Chapter 1 : Jack

It was a little chilly riding the wind in February, but I didn't mind. Elsa always says "The cold never bothered me anyway." and I felt the same. As I made my way to Central Park, I could already see Valentine. She waved me down as she saw me. I always liked seeing her at this time of year. Always so excited and bright-eyed. It made me feel good to see her so happy. Valentine was dressed in her usual getup along with a fuzzy parka. Her bow and quiver slung neatly across her shoulder and her winged shoes fluttering with enthusiasm, trying to race to the next young couple. A picnic basket lay at her feet on a spread out blanket. She was smiling from ear to ear and her opal eyes were glittering with joy. This was our first get-together in what seemed like years. I couldn't make the last seven because I was either dealing with Pitch or spending time with Elsa.

"Hi Jack! It's so good to see you again!" said Valentine anxiously with a big hug.

"Hey Val. Good to see you too. How have you been?" I said as I broke from the hug.

"Great! So busy at this time of year, you know. With Valentine's Day coming in just three days and all. How bout' you, Jack?" Valentine said as we sat down. She handed me a sandwich.

"I'm great, too. Actually, more than great. I am now officially a Guardian and I have a new girlfriend!"

"Jack, that's AWESOME." said Valentine, surprisingly without a hint of jealousy."What's her name? How long have you been together?"

Of course she was so excited, love was like her I realized the irony of how she was single, but her job was to spread love throughout the world.

"Her name is Elsa, and we have been together for longer than I can remember."

"AWW! That is so sweet."

"So, what did you do while I was away?"

She kind of looked down at the mention of her pastimes.

"Well, I visited Paris, then I went back to Germany and trained more Cherubs. I also went to Rome and did some sightseeing. When I wasn't working, I was enjoying the beaches or roaming ancient ruins."

"Sounds cool." I said, not really knowing what to say. I felt bad. She always seemed so lonely when she wasn't talking to me.

"So, Jack," Valentine said smoothing her hair back," tell me all about Pitch and the Guardians, and Elsa too!"

So I told her all about how Pitch attacked our jobs to make the children not believe in the Guardians. And then how we defeated Pitch with the help of Jamie and his friends, and from Sandy, who thankfully returned. Then I told her how I met Elsa. All alone in her ice castle, scared and worried. Valentine got all squeal-happy when I told her I called Elsa my Snowflake. She asked a bunch of questions and got all excited when I told her about any romantic stuff I did for Elsa. We talked until the sun slowly descended into the horizon and dinnertime had arrived. At the thought of dinner, I remembered the amazing dinner Elsa had said she would make tonight.

"Hey Val, I think I'd better be heading out before Elsa has my head."

"Okay. Bye Jack! Have a nice night." she waved goodbye. And with that, I waved back and was off.

I arrived home to a worried Elsa and a semi-cold dinner.

"Hey Snowflake." I said and then kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi Jack. Where were you? You were late. Lunch doesn't take that long."

"I know, I know. But if you have about five years worth of catching up to do, don't you think it would take a little more than one hour?"

"I guess so, but being late for dinner… there is no excuse in the world."

"Yes _mom._" I said teasingly.

"Well then, it's late and I am going to bed."

"Ok. Good night Snowflake."

"Good night Jack."

She left the room and then I quickly finished dinner, took a shower, and went to bed myself. As I let my head sink down into my soft pillow and slowly start to fall asleep, I thought of how great this life was. What I didn't know was, the next few weeks would really test the truth in that.


	2. Chapter 2: Valentine

Chapter 2: Valentine

It was really great to see Jack again. It felt as if we hadn't talked in ages when really it was only two years. I was happy for him about Elsa and his Guardianship. I really was. But all of that made a small part of me feel even emptier than before. I already felt isolated from the world. I am pretty sure that I am the only one in the world, besides Pitch, who isn't a Guardian. It used to be Jack and I, alone in the world, practically brother and sister, bringing joy to kids who didn't even know we existed. Now it's just me, searching for couples that who have lost their way, or secret crushes, or even just simply bringing love to any hatred. Even if someone did believe in me, they didn't really believe in me. Most people think I am some chubby baby that flies around shooting random people in the butt. I assure you, I am not. Those would be Cherubs, but still, they don't go shooting random people in the behind. I assign them couples that need a little boost of inspiration. Also, when they shoot the arrows, they shoot them in the air above the couple and they explode into sparkling glitter-like particles of pure love. I can also change my arrows at will, unlike the Cherubs. I have love arrows, regular arrows (for practice), messenger arrows, and basically any type of arrow you could think of, maybe even more.

Anyways, being all alone was miserable. All I had was my Cherubs. I used to have Jack around to give me company, someone who got what we were going through. Every year on Valentine's Day (Jack called it Val's Day) we would go to Rockefeller Center and ice skate. But we didn't just skate like anyone else, Jack would propel us with blasts of cold air on the ice behind us, and then I would start shooting arrows into the air, making beautiful fireworks of glittery love. After a while we would stop to admire our work. The rink would be decorated with elegant swirls of frost and the couples skating would all just be standing around kissing eachother. That was when we would be rolling on the ground laughing. I was thinking of those good old days on my walk back home.(My winged shoes needed a rest) I honestly should have saw it coming, but this little girl ran right through me. I don't think you've ever had someone run right through you, but it is really bad. First you feel something like a mild punch in the gut, but then it leaves you with this sad empty feeling inside. It gives me the shivers. I tried to cheer myself up the rest of the way home by remembering the good days with Jack, but all I could remember was the day Jack left and never came back. Though I was completely oblivious to the fact that Pitch was trying to overpower the Guardians and drown the world in darkness, it still hurt that he didn't tell me. 'Then again he was shoved in a sack and kidnapped by yetis.' I thought.

I walked into my house, which was really an old castle in Germany, and tried to just chill out and get a good night's Cherubs had already got my clothes, bed, and shower ready for me. They were so sweet, 'I should do something special for them in the morning.' I thought. Once I showered and got dressed in my favorite nightgown, I crawled into my nice, warm, fluffy bed and began to drift off. Only a few seconds after I got settled in, I heard a loud noise in the living room. Of course I had to go investigate. It's not every day that a girl hears a loud clattering sound in her four thousand year old castle. I crept into my living room with my bow drawn and one of my arrows at ready. I cautiously turned on my light with my weapon still at hand and found one of my Cherubs, Jacen, sleeping on the floor next to a lantern on the stone floor. Poor fellow must have fallen asleep while on late night lockup. I relaxed and sheathed my bow and arrow. Then I scooped Jacen up and started to walk back to the Cherub bunks where the rest of his little friends were sleeping. As I went to open the door of the Cherub bunks, a dark shadow loomed over everything, blocking out my light. I could barely see, but in the moonlight, I could clearly see the shadowy figure of none other than Pitch Black.

I nearly dropped Jacen.

"What do you want?"I said shakily, still with venom in each word.

"Oh come now, Valentine. I certainly hope you don't treat all of your house guests this way." said Pitch with a smirk." I simply came to warn you."

"About what?" I really wanted to reach for my bow and arrow right now, but I didn't want to put poor Jacen down.

"About how I will get my revenge on Jack and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I also came to thank you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You are going to help me become Jack's undoing." he chuckled in his own sick way.

"NO! YOU TWISTED FIEND! I would NEVER do that to Jack!"

"Hahaha. Just wait and see and see."

As I started to lunge at him with one arm ready to punch, he disappeared into the shadows and was gone.


	3. Chapter 3: Jack

Chapter 3: Jack

I woke up and went downstairs to find Elsa already making breakfast. She set two plates of omelets with strawberries on the table. Mmmm. They looked delicious. I just love those trolls for teaching Elsa how to cook.

"Morning Snowflake." I walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning Jack."Elsa said with a smile.

I sat down at the table across from Elsa and started to dive into my omelet when Elsa started into her usual morning interrogation.

"How did you sleep last night?"

"Just fine. These omelets are amazing!" I said shoving another piece into my mouth.

"Why thank you." Elsa said, obviously pleased." Jack."

"Yes?"

"Just to remind you, my cousin Rapunzel and her husband Ugine are coming over tomorrow."

"Oh yeah! That's right!" I took a sip of my orange juice and found heart- shaped ice cubes in it. She thought of everything, this woman. 'I am so lucky to have her.' I thought. I smiled at her.

"What?" Elsa asked playfully.

"I love you." I said

Elsa blushed "I love you more."

"Well, I love you most!" I said with a huge grin on my face.

We basically had an "I love you more." fight until it broke out into an all-out snowball fight in our kitchen. When we decided that nobody really won, but nobody ever lost, we hugged and said I love you to each other. We stayed in that hug until we heard a knock on the door. We both went to go answer it, still holding hands. When we opened the door I was surprised to see Valentine. She didn't look to good. Her eyes were a bit red, as if she had been crying, and they were lined with dark circles, as if she didn't get any sleep last night. She was also shivering from head to toe and looked a bit flushed. But she acted like her normal self.

"Omg! That is SOOO adorable! You guys answered the door together!"

"Hi Val! Good to see you. I gotta admit, I didn't expect to see you this soon."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that."she said smoothing her hair back. "But this is really urgent."

"Why don't you step inside? You look terribly cold." Elsa said.

"Thank you." Valentine said.

"I should probably introduce you to each other properly." I said "Elsa, this is Valentine. Valentine this is Elsa."

"Hi, nice to finally meet you. Jack talked about you A LOT yesterday." Valentine said with an outstretched hand. I just blushed and so did Elsa.

"Nice to meet you too, Valentine." Elsa said, shaking Valentine's hand.

"You can just call me Val!"

"Ok." Elsa said. "So Val, what brings you here?"

"Oh." Valentine said. Her face darkened at the thought. She turned to me. "Jack, this is serious." Her eyes were tearing up."Pitch broke into my house last night… and ...and.." She burst into tears.

"Hey, hey. Its gonna be alright." I said trying to comfort her. I hugged her and she started bawling into my shoulder. I looked over at Elsa for advice, but she just gave me a worried shrug. I took Val over to the couch and said, "OK, Val. It's gonna be OK. Just explain everything very slowly." I rubbed her back methodically hoping it would calm her down. "Just let it all out"

She explained her encounter with Pitch between chokes of sobbs. I didn't blame her. It sounded horrible. If someone told me that I would be the one who killed Elsa, I would lock myself in a psycho institute in one of those padded rooms. And then I started crying a bit because Pitch doesn't make bluffs. I might die. When I started thinking of dying, I wondered how Elsa would take it, which made me cry more at the thought. I looked over at Elsa, and saw that she was crying. A great morning turned around just by one visit.

"I'm so sorry, Jack." Valentine said, getting up and wiping up her tears. "I should go. Please don't come looking for me. I don't wanna hurt you."

She walked out the door, leaving both me and Elsa crying.


	4. Chapter 4: Valentine

Chapter 4: Valentine

I was ashamed to leave Jack's beautiful ice castle with the poor doomed couple bawling their eyes out. I wasn't feeling to great either. I was super tired, my eyes hurt, I had a splitting headache. I just felt so weak overall. I would just have to go home and try to sleep. Hopefully the Cherubs would carry out the pre-Valentine's Day work. There was no way I could do anything correctly right now.

Once I got home, I just flopped onto my bed and fell asleep once I hit the pillow.

A good night's sleep was what I needed, but nightmares was all I got.

I was trapped. I was stuck in some kind of prison. I felt around to find anything, a door windows, an air source. The walls were all padded with a material that felt like sandpaper. There were no windows, no door, no air vent, no light, nothing. The entire room was….. pitch black. I just sat curled in a corner. I seemed to have lost my shoes, and changed into some weird, scratchy cloth, that was at some points, digging into my skin. It hurt. At those same few points where it hurt, I felt a liquid trickling down me. I prayed that it wasn't blood. Then someone came in through an opening in the wall. The light poured in, temporarily blinding me. When I could refocus, I saw Pitch standing there with some kind of tray. I shifted, but that only hurt me more. I looked down and now saw that my clothes were made of a white wool with tiny strips if barbed wire sewn into it. Most of the cloth was stained red now. Blood.

"We meet again Valentine." Pitch said. I tried to speak, but I couldn't. It was as if someone had ripped my voice out. Tears started to trickle down my face, I was scared.

"Oh look, she's scared." He laughed evilly. I felt so helpless. All I could do was sit there and watch.

"Well have I got news for you. You are going to become my child of fear. It will be you who kills Jack with your bare hands, and you won't even know it. But don't worry, I will allow you to awake from your trance just enough to admire your work, and then you will come with me and be my slave for the rest of our eternal life."

I was screaming inside. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I was crying hard now. It was hard to catch my breath. Pitch just stood there and laughed. He approached me with the tray. There I saw it had one huge syringe filled with a horrible dark liquid. He took the guard off of the syringe, exposing the he pulled up my sleeve, scratching my arm up more. Pitch jabbed the needle in my arm and then injected the dark fluid into my veins. Once he was done he said with a smile, "Don't worry darling, that wasn't even the worst part. I'll see you soon." He walked out the door and shut it, engulfing me in darkness once more.

I awoke with a scream. I couldn't move. My body felt detached and not there. I craned my head to look at my arm. Though I was back in my old clothes and there were no scratches to be seen, I now had a bandage around where Pitch had injected me. I lay there for awhile until I could regain feeling in my body. Then, when I thought I was ready to walk, I went to my kitchen to make some tea. After I had finished a bit more than half of my tea, I heard a knock on my great wooden door. That was unusual because it was a drawbridge to the path outside. And nobody could really knock on it unless they fired a cannon with a knocking knuckle on it, which was highly unlikely. I went to the door with my bow and arrow at ready, in case it was Pitch, and hit the lever with my foot so I could still keep my arrow knocked.

As the door slowly lowered, I found Jack floating just above the bridge. I relaxed and put my bow and arrow away.

"Jack! What are you doing here?! I thought I made it clear that I was dangerous!"

"I know, but I figure we can manage at least one trip to the rink before I meet my doom." He held up a pair of ice skates.

I smiled, despite everything that happened. I ran and got my ice skates from my room, told the Cherubs that I was heading out and that Jacen was in charge, and closed my heavy door behind me.

Rockefeller Center was beautiful, as it always was. The rink looked perfect, and it wasn't too crowded either. Jack and I put our skates on and started off just doing normal rounds. Then we got really into it and started to use Jack's powers to propel us and I would shoot showers of sparkling love into the air. We went on like this for awhile until we ran into somebody. Well, Jack ran into somebody, the man just passed right through me. He was actually somewhat stuck inside of me when he quickly apologized to Jack. I was totally out of energy by then. For the rest of the night, we walked around Central Park. I told Jack about my nightmare as we walked. He was really startled and worried when he heard the news. And just as the sun was setting, the unimaginable happened.

From behind, an arrow pierced me through the heart. It was excruciatingly painful. Jack caught me as I crumpled to the ground with tears in his eyes. He looked back at where the arrow had come from. I don't know what he saw, but all I could hear was a bit of laughter before Jack screamed "You! You did this!". The arrow was unusual. It had disintegrated after a few seconds of impaling me, but still left the horrid stinging pain as if it were still in there. Tears fell down my face in painful silence. Some of them mine, some of them Jack's. I coughed as I choked on some of my blood. Somehow, I wasn't dying, or at least not as fast as anyone should normally be. It was torture. I lost all feeling in my body. I felt so detached from life, yet I could still feel the white-hot pain all over. I started to slowly fade out of the world. I couldn't hear anything anymore, and Jack was trying to say something to me that I couldn't quite make out. My vision blurred. The last thing I saw was Jack, hovering over me crying, stroking my hair as I fell into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5: Jack

Chapter 5: Jack

This was bad. Really bad. When Val was shot, I turned around to see who it was. It was Pitch. He laughed like some sick lunatic as he was admiring his work, and then disappeared before I could do anything. What really made me sick to my stomach though, was the fact that he would torture her, both mentally and physically, and lie to her about killing me, just to kill her in the end. It was just despicable.

I held Val as she slowly died. But that was the thing, she wasn't actually dying. Or at least not as fast anyone else would be. The arrow had vanished from her heart, but now where the arrow had been, Val's skin was turning a grayish color. Just like Pitch. The gray was slowly spreading on her like an black ink stain on white cloth. I had to get her help, before it was too late. I kept on telling her to stay with me, to not let go. I didn't even know if she could hear me. I was crying so much that even I couldn't understand what I was saying sometimes. I could see her starting to slowly lose her fight. Her eyes fluttering, trying to hold on to the world. She started dipping in and out of consciousness. Then she finally stopped moving, except for small, short breaths that got more spaced apart every minute I wasted. I scooped her up and told the wind to push me as fast as it could back to the castle. I needed to find help, and fast. Val was almost completely gray-toned now. This wasn't good. Once I got home, I burst through the door.

"Hi hon…" Elsa started. But when she saw my worried and teary expression, and a limp Valentine in my arms, she said "Honey, I'm so sorry." I ran into a spare bedroom and laid Val down on the bed. She looked dreadful. Her skin was completely gray, her hair was now jet black, and her lips had gone purple. Tears stained her face, most of them were mine. I don't think I could bear to see what happened to her beautiful opal eyes. She was still breathing, but just barely. I held her cold hand, hoping, by some miracle that she would be alright.

Elsa came in the room. She looked at Val, then at me.

"I'm so sorry Jack." she said with tears in her eyes. She sat down next to me put her arms around me to try to comfort me. We just sat there for awhile, me bawling my eyes out, and Elsa crying for me and a lost life.

"You know, Rapunzel and Eugene arrived when you were gone." Elsa said after awhile.

I looked up. "What?!"

"I said 'You kn-"

"I know what you said! Do you think Rapunzel will be able to help?" I interrupted.

"Jack, Rapunzel lost her powers years ago."

"Yeah, like two years ago. And didn't they find the leftovers of that antidote-stuff made from the Flower of the Sun? And didn't she drink it? She got her hair back, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe she could help." Elsa dried up her tears and smiled a tiny bit. I wiped up my tears, but couldn't manage a smile.

Apparently, when I came home, Elsa had wanted them to be a surprise for me, so she hid them in the kitchen. Then when I came home in a rush, trying to find help for Val, she told them to wait for her to return. I didn't dare leave Val's side, so just Elsa went. It was terrible that she was still living with this torture. Her breath was small and raspy, as if she was enduring great pain. Elsa came back to the bedroom with Rapunzel, who gasped at the state in which Val was in. She definitely had her golden locks back, but they were only down to her waist. 'Would it be enough to save Val?' I wondered. She wasted no time. Rapunzel laid her hair on Val's heart and sung with shaky tears:

"Flower gleam and glow,

let your power shine,

make the clock reverse,

bring back what once was mine.

Heal what has been hurt,

change the Fates' design,

save what has been lost,

bring back what once was mine,

What once was mine."

A golden swirl appeared on Val's heart, but then disappeared quickly.

"Did it work? Why didn't she wake up?" I asked, still a bit choked up from all of the tears.

Rapunzel was really crying too. She lowered her head."It didn't work because there is too much darkness in her heart. All that did was heal her wound."

"What?" I started to cry again." Why?...Why? She didn't do ANYTHING wrong. It was ME Pitch wanted. Why would he do this to her?"

"Jack, honey." Elsa soothed "If it helps, I called the Guardians to see if they could help."

I looked at her, eyes filled with tears. I love her. She was always so understanding and helpful, especially when you needed someone to confide in. I love her so much. I got up and hugged Elsa tight and cried on her shoulder. It was so comforting to have her here.

"I should go now." Rapunzel said, wiping her eyes. "Hopefully we'll get to talk later, Jack." I just nodded on Elsa's shoulder, and she left. A few minutes later, North, Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny showed up. I had left Val's room then. Elsa told me to just let her get some rest and maybe she will feel better. I doubted it. When the Guardians heard the news of what happened, they all said how sorry they felt and all, though I imagine that they were really wondering how Pitch came back and planning a counter- attack on him. Everyone was trying to comfort me, but the only one who made me feel the slightest bit better was Elsa. The whole rest of the day was pretty much teary silence with the occasional pat-on-the-back, or something else for comfort. When it got late, Elsa broke the silence and suggested that we all go to bed, which I was more than grateful for. Everyone either went home or went to their rooms to sleep. That night I couldn't sleep, so I told Elsa and then we cuddled until I fell asleep. Not even a lifetime of sleep could prepare me for tomorrow, though.


	6. Chapter 6: Elsa

Chapter 6: Elsa

The truth was that I had recognized Valentine the moment she walked through our front door. I think she recognized me too. I guess we just played it out for Jack, but.. seeing her like that… it was horrible. I can't even imagine how poor Punzie felt. We met each other awhile back. She was really Punzie's best friend, but if Anna and I ever got to see Punzie, Val would be with her. According to Punzie, they first met when she was locked in the tower by Mother Gothel. When she was fourteen, Val appeared at her window when Gothel was away. Val had told her that she could feel a strong amount of love from that tower, but also loneliness and greed. Punzie told her that the strong sense of love came from her and her mother, and her and Pascal. She also told her that the loneliness had come from her as well. That even though she had her mother and Pascal, she still longed for a real human friend.(no offense to Pascal) Valentine had asked if she wanted to be her friend. When Punzie agreed, they both smiled and hugged and Val said "We're gonna be just like sisters."

Val had then explained that she too lived in Germany and when she was walking around, searching for anything to do, she stumbled upon her tower, and then they met. She also just had one question for Punzie left.

"How can you see me?"Val asked.

"With my eyes." replied Rapunzel.

"No, seriously, most people can't see me, but you can. How come?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I have one of those artists' perspectives on the world. I can see the world in a whole new way."

"Oh yes. That must be it." Val said, and they both laughed. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Everyday after that for the next four years, Val would come when Gothel was away, because Rapunzel had told her that Gothel would freak out if she saw her there. When Val had reminded her that she was the only one she knew who could see her, Punzie told her 'Just incase.'

These were the days when Jack was helping the Guardians, and then after that, he met me. We met a couple years after Jack had officially been ordained a Guardian. He was riding the wind past Norway when he saw my ice castle. Amazed by the beauty and craftsmanship of the structure, he flew down to investigate. When he knocked on my door I was startled at first. I hadn't expected anyone to find me, and even so, certainly not a complete stranger. He had asked me who had built the castle, how long it took, and how they built it. He also told me how amazed he was at the elegance and beauty of the castle. My answer was me, about one rebellious song montage (one minute and thirty seconds from building of the stairs to before I closed my ice doors dramatically.) and then, I told him not to freak out and showed him my ice powers. He thought it was awesome and then made me a ice rose carried by an ice bunny. It was so adorable. He then asked me my name, which I told him, and left me with a promise: That he would return.


	7. Chapter 7: Jack

Chapter 7: Jack

I woke up early the next morning. Sleep wasn't the easiest thing to come to me at this time. Anger, worry, and sadness were more likely to come than sleep. As I walked down the hallway to get to the stairs, I decided to check on Valentine. I poked my head in her room with hope that by some miraculous change of events, she would be all healthy again. Instead I got an empty room with the window open. The bed sheets were all mangled and on the floor and there was a black arrow sticking out of the wall. I freaked out. I ran to the window and looked outside. No sign of anything coming in or out. I ran to the arrow. It was so weird. It was the shape of Val's, the arrowhead was the same as Val's, but the color was all wrong. Val's arrows were a rose red color, and this one was a stark black color. Yet, Val's bow and quiver were gone along with Val herself. Maybe Pitch kidnapped Val and put the arrow in to antagonize me. I didn't know the answers, but I wanted to. My worry and sadness turned into blind rage. Pitch had gone too far. This time, there would be no return from Pitch. I stormed out of the room and downstairs into the kitchen to leave Elsa a note saying that I left, only to find Rapunzel. She was sitting at the table with a cup of hot chocolate. She wiped tears from her eyes when she saw me walk in, which meant she had been crying. I pretended not to notice.

"Morning Punzie. What are you doing up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking about that poor girl and how I couldn't save her." She started tearing up again.

"Hey, hey. Don't do that to yourself. You did the best you could."

After a long silence, Rapunzel looked down at her cocoa and said "She was my best real friend, Jack."

I tried to process this. "What?"

"Jack, I knew her. Even before last night." She then explained how Val was the bestest friend a fourteen-year old girl locked in a tower with her disappearing mother and a chameleon could have. I felt really bad for her then. How could I have been so blind? From the moment she walked into Val's room, she could barely walk when she saw Val. Now, she was taking this as hard as I was, and she didn't even know half of the torture Val went through. If I told her all of it though, I think it might have shattered her heart. I sat there contemplating all of this before saying,

"I'm so sorry. I never knew. All this time I thought that I was the only one who was taking this especially hard, but we both are in an extreme amount of pain."

Rapunzel just nodded with her head still down. I could tell that she was crying through her veil of blonde hair.

"That's why I am going to avenge her." I said. And with that I left the kitchen with a muffin, a dumb-struck Rapunzel, and a promise.


End file.
